Session 27: A Hairy Encounter
Party decides to ask Arabella about the black hair.As they approach the church, Prince Ishmeraim stops the party.
"Friends, I have something to tell you!" He puts his hands on Clarence's shoulders. "Sibyll has been taking great care of us!" He emphasizes Great.
Sartorii thinks he looks quite upset about this, actually, and they guide him into a side room.
Sibyll is not around.
"Brothers and sisters, I tell you, Sibyll is taking great care with our lives. She is assisting us in finding a place in this world. She is taking great care of us. Those who have left have found great success."
The Sprite hands him paper and pen, and instructs him to write.
"As has spoken the Prince of all the southern lands, Sibyll is taking us. I do not know where, but they do not go willing and they do not come back."
Do you want us to take you from here?
"Yes. You are telling me that this immaculate gift from the honorable Sibyll is making me speak truths?"
The Sprite uses Translate.
"Small brother, the Prince thanks you for your patience, where might I and my people be safe."
Sartorii: "Do you trust any of the others that are here?"
"Good sister I am a Prince, I trust none but those I acknowledge."
Party decides it is best to take him to Arabella.
"One acknowledged by heroes, I shall trust."
Some of the church folks bow as the party marches to Arabella's office.
Plan to ask Ishmeraim to speak with the collar on, then show Arabella what he wrote through the looking glass.
"Good small brother, I do not wish to put it on, but for you, I shall. No untruths shall pass my lips."
The untruths do not come from you, but the collar!
Arabella is upset by the news. Shaking a little.
Are you okay?
"Someone right under my nose has been victimizing my people and lying to me, perhaps for five years."
Do you wanna go hit her about it?
Arabella looks up at the picture of her old adventuring party. "Gods above I would love to, but I'm afraid that is no longer my prerogative. I shall trust you to hit her about it. She said she had personal business to attend to and was leaving town. I do not know if that is true, but she could not have gotten far."
Sartorii suggest a deep clean to find the people who were taken.
"Though we are a house of law I am hesitant to call an inquisition. I'll think on it. In the meantime, it is your job to cut out the heart of this infection. Have you any leads?"
The prince here, and alludes to the hair found in the box.
Rutana rolls a 28 on Diplomacy to ask Ishmeraim questions.
He witnessed Sibyll magically Charming someone to follow her to where they belong. When he tried to question her she struck him with what felt like a rock. She laughed at him, stating no matter what he said, no one would believe him. He still has the rock, but he can only tell people it fell from an arch and hit him.
Arabella agrees to get another translating choker for Ishmeraim.
Sprite asks if Ishmeraim has anything else to say this hour.
"I only want to thank you, brother, I acknowledge you once more."
Sprite presents the hair to Arabella, plz halp.
"Well it's black as night, but there are a lot of people here with black hair. Given what we know it could be Sibyll, but that doesn't exonerate them. I have an idea. Have you thought of joining the Pathfinder's Society?"
The party has that old compass.
"You have a wayfinder!"
She spends a minute writing a letter, folds and seals it in a fancy envelope. The party is here named the Woodwatch Crew.
"Take this to a goblin named Zerex in the Pathfinder's Lodge on the north side of town. She'll be able to help you. For now, if I can, I'm going to pretend you didn't tell me any of this and I'm going to keep my eyes open. If they don't know that we're on to them by now, we can use that to our advantage."
Sartorii: The Prince could probably help with that too.
Arabella nods, but she's anxious. Banter about she now understands what Astrafel says about the party, how they always bring stress with them. It's because they're actually doing something about terrible shit, though. She agrees to bring Astrafel to the tower for a nice tea and dinner if they convince Zerex to help.
Party goes to the Pathfinder's Lodge to ask Zerex to help with the hair.
The Pathfinder's Lodge is pretty rustic, stuck between more modern buildings. The rustic aesthetic is just a plaster veneer. Labeda's patronage has done the place wonders, evidenced by a crystal chandelier.
There is a diligent-looking young dragonborn man, shiny and gold, at the front desk, chewing mint gum and taking notes.
As the party walks in the dragonborn snaps to attention. "Greetings and welcome to the Pathfinder's Society Lodge, I am Vi'irtu!"
Greetings from the party, asking if Zerex is available.
"Are you sure?"
Yes.
"Oookay! Zerex lives in room 305. Knock quietly."
Will you elaborate?
"It is not my place."
Party thanks him and heads upstairs. The stairs do not even creak, covered in a fine and securely-stapled carpet.
Sartorii knocks carefully with just one knuckle, that kind where you missed the bus in the morning and have to go back in and wake your parents up but you don't want to. There is a solid three minutes of silence, then a latch is undone, then another, then a third, and then the deadbolt.
And then the floor creaks as something moves away from the door.
From the distance, "It's open!!"
As the party opens the door they are struck by a smell. Not a bad smell, humid, not hotboxing himself. It comes from a massive alchemical science workstation. Herbs, blood, and monster parts flavor the air.
Standing roughly equidistant between the party and the lab is a little, gray-haired goblin woman with a staff in hand. She points it at the party and spits out, "What do you want?!"
Rutana hurriedly presents Arabella's letter and instruction.
Zerex tears open the side of the envelope and whips the letter open.
Reads letter, looks at party. Looks at letter, looks at party. Looks at letter, looks at party.
".......Yeeaaaah, she would have a soft spot for you. Come in, come in, sit anywhere that won't blow up."
Clarence very carefully keeps his tail tucked around himself.
There is a bed absolutely covered in pillows.
Zerex puts her staff back down in a corner.
"Still chasing Arabella's demons, after all these years. You'd think she would get tired, I certainly did! Even if it is my place to tell you, I'm not gonna. Not gonna pick at old scabs," she says as she picks at a scab on her arm.
She sighs and picks up a couple vials after considering for a bit. "Wayfinder!"
The Sprite holds out the wayfinder.
"So, 50% chance this explodes, 50% chance this does something, let's go!"
She takes these three vials, adds them to the wayfinder.
"Hair!"
Sprite hands her the hair. She calls him short, then slowly, carefully lowers the hair into the slot in the wayfinder. It sizzles as she does, carefully not boiling over.
She then walks to the other side of the room and pulls down a shutter shield covered in scorch marks. When nothing happens after a couple minutes, she comes back outside. Picks up the wayfinder, gives it a little shake, and the compass atop starts to spin.
"Alright!" She throws it to the closest person. "That thing's got three charges before the juice will burn out. You might wanna vinegar wash it after you're done. So basically, what you're gonna do is, so you hit the button on the wayfinder that normally is supposed to reset the needle in case it gets stuck. The mechanism that touches the needle will get coated in the mixture I put in, put out an arcane signal, and point at the nearest identical item to what I put in. If you're lucky, it'll be connected to somebody's head!"
Party thanks her, that's really cool.
"Just don't tell anyone, I don't want to be known as someone who hands out finding charms like some kind of child with a wand!"
Sartorii asks her what she would like to be known for.
"Ideally, detonation work!"
Rutana asks her favorite cheese.
Zerex squints and thinks for a minute. "Briiiiiie."
How do you feel about being the reason Arabella has to honor a dinner invitation she didn't think she'd have to honor?
Sure!!!
They don't let her in Astrafel's office anymore, after she accidentally blew up his office on his birthday.
As the party walks out they hear some valve in her room start whistling. "Good, finally, I can get back to my—"
An explosion sounds behind the closed door.
It's fine, don't worry about it.
Party deciding who stays home to wait for Besh, and who goes to follow the wayfinder.
Sprite and Clarence stay at tower.
Rutana and Sartorii go investigate.
Sartorii has lived here her whole life and is a cool rogue, so her asking questions won't raise much suspicion.
Rutana rolls diplomacy to aid Sartorii, 24. Critical success! Sartorii gets +2 to her next check.
Sartorii rolls society to gather information. Rolls 1, uses a hero point to reroll. 23, + 2.
Sartorii hears from the guards that someone matching Sibyll's description left town last night, very sure about it. Her sources, however, state otherwise. The guards are acting real fuckin sus.
Essentially: "Yes, that exact person left last night!" "Now how da fuck could they know that?"
An hour later, the first part of shave and a haircut knocks at the door. The Sprite completes the song and opens the door.
There stands Besh all smug, flanked by Sly.
"You might notice that I am a man down in my little retinue! You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
"He's probably out up to orc business, huh?"
"Orc business, I'm sure you're right. He was only good for knocking skulls anyway. I'm sure you won't look down on me too much for increasing it a little exponentially for next month, what with you being on the front page of the gazette and everything!"
Clarence responds, "We can't really help but look down on you."
"Disrespect is the tool of the weak. After all, you don't know where those people were taken."
Sprite hands Besh the gold.
Besh states he'll send a missive with the required amount so it's not too much of a surprise.
Clarence slams the door in his face.
Meanwhile, in Astrafel's office...
Rutana and Sartorii talking to Astrafel's assistant, Gilla Blueburrow.
Gilla shoots up to her full height, "Hi, welcome! Will you be blowing right past me to talk to Astrafel today, or can I help you?"
"Would you like to deal with compromised guards?"
"Astrafel it is!"
Astrafel is in his office applying dye to his mohawk, shirtless. ("Oh nooo he's hot." "Well I wasn't GONNA just say it like that, but he is Cut. He has a fair amount of scars over the years, and on his back is a tattoo of two angel wings." Astrafel: "Oh, you like that? I got it done ages ago. Surprised it's not faded. I thought it would look when I do this!" He flexes and his own golden wings come out on either side. Now his wings are just out for an hour.)
"Is this a bad time?"
"No, I can do this and talk, what's up?"
Rutana starts. "Unfortunately, we come with news again."
Astrafel's wings droop.
Rutana tells him everything that happened with Zerex, the party's planning a dinner he's invited too, and also the shit with the guards.
Astrafel finishes with his dye and puts his implements away, and sits. He has to splay his wings to fit in the chair. He has a similar nervous tic to Arabella, bouncing his leg.
"This is not the first time a cult has gained foothold in this city."
Sartorii asks when the last time was.
"About 20 years ago, back when Arabella, Zerex..." He leans back in his chair and looks at the ceiling in contemplation. "Arabella, Zerex, Marigold, and Leo, back when we were all running together, we ran them off. Or, at least, did our best. It didn't end well. Not all of us made it out."
Rutana and Sartorii offer sympathies.
Astrafel nods. "Leo is..." he taps his hair. "He bet us if the cultists were in there I would have to dye my mohawk pink for a week. I was so sure they weren't. And...he died, and Marigold died."
So you've done this ever since?
"We haven't talked in years, not really. Not since that happened." He chuckles. "Honestly if it wasn't you and your little crew, I don't think we would have talked again until we were in the afterlife."
Rutana: Well good news now you get to talk and have a lovely grilled cheese dinner! I don't think Arabella thought Zerex would agree.
"How did you get that old, uh, girl, to agree?"
"Well we told her Arabella thought she wouldn't agree, and also we said you would be there."
He shares the tale of the birthday bomb. He's opened every card outside ever since.
"I digress. I'll have the guards checked, and contract the Arcanum to go cast dispel magic on them as best they can. I hate to put this on you as it's my failure, but I need you to root them out. Back in my day the cult was run by a man named Kelso, an elf. This was just after the Vanishing. They believed in the turmoil they could put forth the politics of Chelliax."
Rolls society. Chelliax is one of the most powerful nations in this continental area, that power coming from its military. It has a chokehold on the region's trade. However, it pales in comparison to its former glory. Chelliax is a nation devoted to diabolism. They worship devils, their tyrannical government is brought on to the laws of hell. Asmodeus is their core deity, thought they have some churches of Abadar. Abadar does not have as much power there, though. They are a country fully invested in using the power of hell to get what they want.
Whether or not the cult is a fully nationalist organization or just a small group of extremists was unknown.
Kelso was a very creative leader and he did everything he could to grow his power near the city. Now it seems he is doing everything he can to grow his power in it. If he succeeded in his bombing plan, whether it killed any of the lords didn't matter. The resulting war would have handed this place to Chelliax in chunks.
Astrafel never met Kelso face to face, but if he ever did...
Sartorii asks if Astrafel would like to join them for that chance.
"In a heartbeat."
Here's what they know: It's entirely possible the person they're tracking is in the city.
Sartorii and Rutana return to the tower, which is utterly immaculate from Clarence's ministrations. The floor was mopped, it must have been a bad day.
From there, they go to the town center to use the wayfinder. The compass point rather instantly points to the church of Abadar. It leads through the common area, through the chapel, through the living area, and to a door; one room in a line of ten within the cloister.
No one hears anything on the other side of the door, even with a 26.
Sartorii picks the lock on the door.
The wayfinder points to the vanity, and on it is a hair brush. The party takes the hair from the brush so it doesn't interfere with the brush again.
A sister of the church states the room does in fact belong to Sibyll, and she asks the party to say hi to Sibyll for her! Sibyll is oh so super helpful! For real though, this girl isn't charmed or anything.
Time to search the room! The Sprite rolls a nat 20 and finds every single hair in the room so it will no longer be a false positive for the wayfinder.
Rutana finds a loose floorboard. Inside is a violet crystal; a fairly flat, hexagonal crystal that would fit squarely in her palm. She elects not to touch it, picking it up with a cloth. It leaves no residue and doesn't hurt. A bit cold, but it has been beneath the floor. Doesn't seem precious, just an incredibly cheap amethyst. Something easily produced. Too plain for a badge.
The Sprite casts detect magic and senses an incredibly mild magical energy similar in strength to a cantrip, and similar in composition to the Sigil spell. An item like this could be used as a key, or a stamp. That stamp would only work if put into something that would activate the spell. Basically, it's a key.
Rutana rolls occultism on the gem. She has heard of people using something like this as a badge, but something like that would cast the sigil when caught in light. Basically, confirmed that this is a key.
The party decides to use the wayfinder from the entrance to the sewer, using the maintenance entrance by the waterfront.
The needle swings directly to the entrance of the sewer.
The party follows the compass for about 30 minutes.
Footsteps approach rapidly in the distance. The wayfinder's needle bounces about as if whatever it is tracking is moving.
The party is in a sewer channel. Five feet of standing spaces, ten feet of gross canal, another five feet of walkable space on the other side.
The party douses their lights, and wait.
The steps get louder and louder, followed by scratching and panting. Someone falls and begs for help.
Clarence immediately approaches. A little red creature on his back hisses and rolls back into the darkness.
Sartorii recognizes the little red creature as a kobold. She follows it while Rutana and Clarence comforts the panicked man. The Sprite follows Sartorii after turning his light back on.
When they approach the kobold it looks up at them.
"Waaaait, Skek knows you! You are the one who drove off all of Skek's kin! You are the one who killed false dragon god, dragged his body into the light! Let the people see him for what he was! Cool."
Sartorii asks if he can explain.
"Depends. Will you stab Skek, like you stabbed his kin?"
"Not if Skek doesn't give us reason to stab."
"Only if I'm bribed!"
The Sprite notices the wayfinder is pointing behind them.
The man Clarence was comforting twists around and tries to stab Clarence, butgets his knife caught in the metal loops of his armor!
"Oh, fuck."
Clarence reaches to grab him, misses. Rutana grabs him and holds him down!
Sartorii disarms the man and ties him up.
"Asmodeus take you! What are you even doing down here?!"
"He gotta take us on a date first, damn."
(Insert meme of that guy who just woke up and is getting a light shone in his face.)
Skek picks up the man's knife, excited to have shiny.
"Hey Skek, are there more people down here?"
"Yes, there have been more humans. Skek thought they stayed away before because they were afraid of kobolds."
Clarence introduces himself to Skek.
Skek squints. "This one I do not know."
The Sprite gives Skek trail mix. The noises Skek makes would give people nightmares. ("If you never grapefruited your man, I'm just saying." "If you've never trail mixed your man!")
The Sprite walks around the cultist, looking at the wayfinder. It points at his breast pocket.
They reach into his breast pocket despite a plethora of complaints.
Rutana continues searching and pulls out his purse, 29 copper!
From his breast pocket came a braid of black hair interwoven with black silk. Likely given as a favor, or by flirting.
The Sprite asks where he got it.
"From the most beautiful woman any of you have likely ever seen!"
He is not magically charmed, just naturally.
tldr: Party sees a man being attacked by a kobold.
They chase the kobold away!
Sartorii and the Sprite give chase, find Skek.
Sprite notices compass pointing back to Clarence.
The man they saved tries to stab Clarence! Fails entirely.
Sibyll's hair is in his pocket.
Sprite goads him into talking about the hair.
She took him into her room, braided her hair, cut it and gave it to him, so he could keep Sibyll close!
Clarence: Oh wow you really fell for that, huh?
Rutana also finds another one of those purple gem keys in a secret pocket.
The cultist explains how it's a true connection, he saw her across the room, they instantly met and had so much in common, she could have taken any man in that bar but she took him to worship with her and share this most private part of her life!
Clarence: So you really just fell hook, line, and sinker.
That's all goading will do.
Clarence does genuinely feel sorry for him, but doesn't roll high enough to convince him.
Rutana points out he was clearly meant to be a decoy. He was used! Also doesn't roll high enough to convince him.
"I don't see how this makes me a decoy, simply carrying a favor for the woman I love."
Rutana continues, "Cause we're tracking her hair, man. She's probably figured that out by now."
They see the cultist's heart break in real time, and the realization that he is in deep shit. ("In his head: My dick has led me somewhere I would not even go with a gun.") He says nothing for a while, just fidgets, then starts to cry.
"How much does anyone believe in the gods, really? Go to mass every day for some, drop some coins in a box for others, sacrifice a goat. It's all just begging for little favors from creatures that don't give a shit about you. I thought I'd found somewhere I belonged, somewhere I was loved. Clearly I was wrong.
"Unfortunately, we're probably gonna have to take you to our guard friend."
"Wait. If I tell you where the entrance is, would you let me go?"
The Sprite asks what guarantee they have he won't just go back to Sibyll. He seems to be honest, according to a blind GM roll and some perception checks. (His name is now Gavin deBoldic.)
The party agrees.
Gavin holds up his hands, asking to be untied.
Rutana unties him and stashes the rope for later.
Gavin rubs his wrists. "Follow this pathway for the next three turns. When you get to the big four-way intersection, make a left. Walk for about ten minutes. You should see a notch on the wall on the left that matches the gems. If you didn't know it was there you'd miss it, but when you know what to look for, it's obvious."
The Sprite tries to give him trail mix. Skek steals it. "I'm still here. This is depressing. Look at this sad man!"
Sartorii advises Gavin to be careful. He says he'll buy a wagon out of town, set up in the river kingdoms. Maybe the girls are nicer down there. Sartorii advises guys, he might have bad choice in girls. Clarence says men aren't much better.
Gavin walks off into the darkness. It would've been dramatic if Sartorii didn't have dark vision.
Skek watches him go. "Perhaps Skek leave sewers as well, find opportunity in big city."
"Thought you'd have done that sooner," Sartorii says.
"Skek was born here!"
"Not like you can't come back."
"Bird thing has good point. Skek goes to find his fortune!" He holds up the dagger he stole, then disappears into a hole in the wall.
Rutana sends Cortez to Astrafel with a note detailing their discoveries so far.
Following Gavin's directions, the party finds a little hexagonal indent in the wall.